Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The pushback continues against the statements potential Republican presidential candidates Mitch Daniels and Hailey Barbour made promoting a truce on social issues, including abortion. Today a coalition of leaders of pro-life groups signed a statement saying there can never be a truce on abortion.

Members of the Vote Pro-Life Coalition include such pro-life heavyweights as Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Bradley Mattes of Life Issues Institute, and Peggy Hartshorn of Heartbeat International.

"Some pro-life politicians and candidates for office have drawn national attention by calling for a truce on abortion to allow them to concentrate on jobs, housing and other issues, they said in a statement released to LifeNews.com.

"This is a proposal the Vote Pro-Life Coalition cannot accept. There can be no truce," they said resolutely.

"A truce would suggest there are issues more important than life, that abortion is somehow a negotiable issue. It is not. In fact, the heart and core and foundation of every issue is precisely the dignity of the human person and his or her right to life," the pro-life coalition’s statement continued.

"We reiterate the necessity of electing pro-life candidates; such candidates never shy away from explicitly dealing with the abortion issue," the groups maintained.

Ultimately, for the pro-life groups and leaders involved in the coalition, "there is no issue more important than life, and that abortion is not negotiable."

Governors Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Haley Barbour of Mississippi say the Republican Party should focus less on social issues like abortion while the problems of the economy are addressed.

Daniels told the Weekly Standard this summer that the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues."

"We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while," by casting social issues like abortion aside so the next president can focus on fixing the beleaguered economy.

Barbour faced his own backlash from pro-life advocates after saying at a breakfast on Wednesday that pro-life advocates should ditch social issues this election cycle in favor of focusing on the economy.

Daniels told the Weekly Standard the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues."

"We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while," by casting social issues like abortion aside so the next president can focus on fixing the beleaguered economy.

Daniels told WS reporter John McCormack "I don’t know," when asked if he would issue the executive order every pro-life president has done by instituting the Mexico City Policy Obama revoked.

That caused such a stir that Daniels was forced to walk back the comments — later telling reporter Michael Gerson he would sign the Mexico City Policy but saying he would stick to his controversial comments calling for a "truce" on abortion.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour faced his own backlash from pro-life advocates after saying at a breakfast on Wednesday that pro-life advocates should ditch social issues this election cycle in favor of focusing on the economy.

But if somebody goes to campaign for governor candidate x, I would hope that somebody would stay focused on the issues that matter to the campaign: jobs, the economy, taxes, spending, debt, deficits, Barbour continued. You run down rabbit trails, you’re wasting you’re using up valuable resources that could be used to talk to people about what they care about.

Other memmbers of the Vote Pro-Life Coalition include Alveda King, Brian Scarmecchia of Ave Maria School of Law, Lisa Dudley of Operation Outcry, Allan Parker of the Justice Foundation, Patricia McEwen of Life Coalition International, Christopher Bell of Good Counsel, Monica Migliorino Miller of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, and Janet Morana of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.